My Soul Waits

“5I wait for the LORD, my (H)soul does wait,
And (I)in His word do I hope.6My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen (J)for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.”

Have you ever recognized the feeling of your soul actually waiting? Anticipation… Hope… Tiny little flutterbys cascading through your abdomen and your mind a whirl or thought and emotion.

Waiting.

The word “waiting” isn’t actually in the ancient text, rather it is implied. The phrase is “Nephesh Adonay” or נַפְשִׁי לַֽאדֹנָי

“Breath of life… Adonai”

Of course we wait on Adonai. Our Lord. He is not yet here. We anticipate His coming. His soon return.

The question here is HOW do we wait?

Verse 6 says “like the watchmen that wait for the morning”.

I couldn’t help but imagine a young man, eager to do his best, settling into his post in the dark. He is alert. Attuned to every noise. He sifts through the sounds he knows – livestock, voices, dogs barking and the occasional cat fight. He is ready to sound the alarm and keep his people safe.

But after awhile good intentions are trampled under the feet of boredom and as the hours crawl by he loses focus, day dreams a bit. What was that pretty girl at the market place doing the next day? Would he see her again? Maybe his parents aren’t being “understanding” enough. Life marches through his head in an endless stream and he loses sight of the importance of his job. Perhaps he snaps back into the right mindset occasionally and holds it for awhile.

“Nothing has happened for months, maybe even years,” he thinks to himself as he justifies settling into a more comfortable position and his face opens wide in a yawn of gargantuan proportion. But he fights the battle of exhaustion and stays awake. As the night crawls on and the hours pass in darkness and silence he calls the watch. He knows it is soon that he will return to his warm home, his comfortable pallet and a cup of something steaming and sweet.

He has been keeping track of the time. He knows where he is and he knows what is coming.

The end of the night.

So he watches even more eagerly now that he realizes how short the time is. And as the first weak rays of light pierce the darkness his eyes are straight ahead and his exhaustion is forgotten. It’s almost dawn.

The long night is over. A new day has begun.

And if the watchman is faithful, those who sleep within are kept safe. And if the watchman is alert, then the enemy has no way of secret entrance.

Verse 5… My soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.”

Only when we keep our hope in His Word and the anticipation alive in our hearts will we be ready and awake when the night ends.